A surge in political campaign ads exploiting television news reports has broadcasters at arms. The political commercials are slicing and dicing previously aired news reports for one simple reason: to bolster the credibility of the commercials.

When people see political ads, they think someone’s lying to them,” Mark McKinnon, an ad strategist who is working for the Romney camp, told The New York Times. “We try really hard to get credible third-party messengers to deliver facts,” he said. Cue: news reports.

The most recent case involves CNBC’s John Harwood, who unknowingly became the centerpiece of the conservative super PAC Crossroad GPS’ new commercial. Harwood said his reporting “was merely a three-second factual observation,” yet he worries whether that damaged his credibility as an unbiased reporter.

The commercial was shown 6,136 times in six days, according to Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group.

It’s easy to build an attack ad around TV news footage, said Bill Carrick, a veteran Democratic news media consultant. “You can put it together in a half-hour,” Carrick told the The Times.

Simply put: Candidates’ personal issues are easier to exploit than the ailing economy or financial stagnation.

While Harwood said his role in the ad was “brief and noncontroversial,” it has played a role in setting a dangerous precedent. “I’m afraid we are just caught now in this world,” former longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw told The Times.